NFL Network’s Charley Casserly: Two New York Giants Rookies Will Start On Defense
Charley Casserly, former GM of the Redskins and NFL Network contributor, gave a positive assessment on one of the worst divisions in the league Wednesday on NFL HQ. Casserly believes the entire NFC East as a whole will be improved, but he gave an interesting review of the New York Giants in particular.
With the additions Jerry Reese made in the offseason, Casserly believes the defense will be “greatly improved,” but he sees two rookies starting on said defense. He believes safety Darian Thompson and linebacker B.J. Goodson will both find their way on to the first team this season.
Both rookies have stiff competition, but Thompson may have the easier road to finding his way into the starting lineup. The plan for Reese going into the draft was to have three young but unproven players, Nat Berhe, Mykkele Thompson and Bennett Jackson, compete for the starting safety job opposite Landon Collins. But during the draft, Reese added Darian in the third round to compete.
At OTAs, it was Berhe, who missed all of 2015, on the first team at free safety ahead of Jackson and both Thompsons. Cooper Taylor was the free safety the last time the Giants practice was open to the media, but he is dealing with a sports hernia and is out until training camp.
One thing Darian has going for him in his position battle is that none of his competitors have experience in the NFL. Berhe had a nagging calf injury that eventually required surgery in 2015. Mykkele had a torn Achilles and Jackson a torn ACL that forced both to miss all of last season. While Darian will still have to learn the playbook and get used to NFL speed, but he has roughly the same game experience as the other safeties at OTAs: none.
Darian was also a ballhawk in college which bodes well for him as he enters the NFL. The Giants defense “survived” last season on turnovers while the yardage they gave up was atrocious. The Giants were +6 with 15 interceptions last season while giving up the most yards in the NFL. If Darian can prove he has steady hands in training camp, he may earn favor with Ben McAdoo and fight his way to into the starting role.
Goodson has a tougher slog to make in on the field as a rookie however. While he may be the middle linebacker of the future, at OTAs, Jasper Brinkley is on the first team and will likely stay there. Brinkley is 30 and has started 42 NFL games, mostly with the Vikings, but he ended 2015 as the starter for the Giants.
Brinkley won’t just have to fend off Goodson to keep his starting job. The Giants acquired Keenan Robinson from the Redskins in the offseason who has spent significant time playing in the middle. Robinson is more athletic and plays the pass a bit better than Brinkley, but can’t seem to stay on the field.
While Goodson was a fourth-round draft pick, his measurables and stats compare pretty closely to first-round MLB Reggie Ragland. Goodson proved himself in college as a between-the-tackles run stopper, but what may keep him from seeing much playing time his rookie year are his coverage skills. The Giants were awful against opposing tight ends in 2015 and pass coverage is a necessary skill for linebackers nowadays in the NFL.
Marc Ross, the Giants’ VP of player evaluation, may have put it best. “[Goodson] has the mindset and the temperament to come in here and compete…The guy wants it. Is he going to start? I don’t know, but he is going to push people, and he is going to work his butt off to get on to the field.’’
It will be a few months before we see if either of these rookies will crack their way into the starting lineup. The fact that either of these players will challenge veterans for a starting role means the Giants are building a younger core and they will have decent depth in case of injury.